UnWholly
Download the Reading Group Guide
Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa—and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack Harvest Camp—people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of troublesome teens while simltaneously providing much-needed tissues for transplant might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question. However, unwinding has become big business, and there are powerful political and corporate interests that want to see it not only continue, but also expand to the unwinding of prisoners and the impoverished.
Cam is a product of unwinding; made entirely out of the parts of other unwinds, he is a teen who does not technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles with a search for identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a soul. And when the actions of a sadistic bounty hunter cause Cam’s fate to become inextricably bound with the fates of Connor, Risa, and Lev, he’ll have to question humanity itself.
Rife with action and suspense, this riveting companion to the perennially popular Unwind challenges assumptions about where life begins and ends—and what it means to live.
Video Feature
Awards & Honors
Reviews
VOYA
In the first book in the Unwind Trilogy, Shusterman introduces us to a world in which parents can offer their teen children to be “unwound,” physically dismantled, every body part donated to other bodies in need. While mostly it is troubled teens who are arrested and unwound under protest, some so fetishize “living divided” that they promise their children from birth as a tithe. Book two, Unwholly, follows the stories of various teens living outside of the law, many in underground sanctuaries for unwinds until they are eighteen and lawfully protected. Lev, Conner, and Risa face challenges both old and new as they continue to fight to protect threatened teens. While the government continues to crack down on resistance to unwinding and pirates continue to flood the black-market with runaway unwinds, there are also rescued teens who actually want to live divided, as well as newly discovered underground communities—both for and against unwinding—that emerge. There is also the matter of Cam, the first composite human. Combined, Lev, Conner, Risa, and others face an increasingly surveilled and hostile environment. To add to the terror of this dystopic future, Shusterman includes real news pieces that show how society might be heading to an eerily similar ideological place. Various perspectives intensify the complex systems the protagonists are working against, namely the complicity with which average citizens accept legal policy. Smart, intense, and thought provoking, this series will stick with readers.
Reviewer: Jennifer M. Miskec
Kirkus Reviews
After surviving the attack on the Happy Jack Harvest Camp, the heroes from Unwind (2007) lead the revolt against the Unwind Accord. Connor, aka the Akron AWOL, now heads up the resistance at the Graveyard, an abandoned airfield where 700-plus unwind escapees live in hiding. His wheelchair-bound girlfriend, Risa, who also survived the attack, serves as the Graveyard’s nurse. Lev, a former tithe, now leads missions to rescue other tithes from unwinding and sends them to a camp where they can cope. Enter Cam, a schizophrenic, teenage Frankenstein built from the body parts of 99 different unwound teens. Shusterman mercifully supplies a Q&A at the front of this sequel to help readers fill in details from Book 1 in the trilogy. He also does an expert job of plunging them headfirst into his disturbing, dystopic and dangerous future world where teenagers are either handed over by their parents or kidnapped for “unwinding,” or organ harvesting. While the plot moves quickly, the work definitely reads like a sequel–a good one. Shusterman is obviously setting the scene for a big climax in Book 3, and his only fault is excess. There are so many new characters and plot twists and segues that readers may feel overwhelmed or confused, but that won’t stop them from turning the pages. A breathless, unsettling read. (Science fiction. 12 & up)
[…] young adult book. It’s compelling and driven, and perfectly set up for it’s sequel, UnWholly, followed by UnSouled and UnDivided, with a companion story taking place in the middle of UnWind […]
I am fascinated by the concept in Neil Shusterman’s trilogy. It does bring up philosophical questions that will never be concretely answered. My only concern is that Cam is referred to as a teenage Frankenstein. Mary Shelley wrote a beautiful masterpiece that should not be misquoted in the literary world. Victor Frankenstein was the Creator. The true significance is that his Creation was never loved nor nurtured and was never given a name. There is power in being loved enough to be given a name and to refer to the Creation as Frankenstein is a disservice to Mary Shelley.
Well, they are just are just trying to show how it is relatable to the Frankenstein story. Some people may not be able to relate until they added the Frankenstein part.
I want him or someone else to make a movie im on the second book
Really good books guys I love them already finishes the whole series
Me too, read it in a month
how do i get the book tho?
What time period is UNWHOLLY in
I didn’t want to give a specific date. It could be ten years from now, or a hundred, or more.
but in the first book you say ‘Ipods from his grandfathers time’
doesnt that indicate its around 50-60 years in the future?
It’s intended to be ANY time in the future — that’s the point. could be ten years, 20, 50, 100….
Considering that cars are still the main mode of transportation I think that neal is right and that its roughly 10 to 20 years in a alternative the future.
I would love to see this as a TV series. Movies would be good but I don’t think you could delve as in depth in the characters’ personalities and back ground that would bring the stories to life.
That’s where we’re going with it. New TV/streaming deal is in the works!
That is fantastic!
I feel like we need to send the Supreme Court the Admiral’s recollection of the what started the Second Civil War–immediately! We would al be better off if they read the whole series.
You, Mr. Shusterman have pin-pointed/prophesied the cause of another civil war. I hope and pray it never comes to pass, but that likelihood is fading fast.
But I am glad to see some sort of production started on Connor, Risa and Lev’s story. I have taught the first two books, and I like to pair them with Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”…
Thanks for writing these books and creating a place for this conversation.
I know this site is dedicated to “Unwholly”, but I wanted to add my thoughts…
As a high school English teacher, I just began teaching the first novel in the series (Unwind) to my sophomore class about four years ago when it was brought to my attention by another teacher. I can say that this novel never fails to keep the attention of most all of the students – no matter what their reading level may be. We have great discussions prior to the novel about organ donation and even some discussion about abortion (which, of course, can be difficult if not approached correctly and properly moderated by me). I have to say that I like that fact that abortion is not directly spoken of often in the novel, but it allows the reader to realize the ramifications of the act in regards to the knowledge that the Heartland War was actually fought over such a serious issue.
Such fascinating subject matter and you handle with grace and class. Truly.
I hope you do get a tv/movie deal made. Not just for your sake (though I hope that, too!), but for the benefit of all of us who have read and enjoy your thought provoking and well-written novels.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, John! At this point it’s moving (slowly) forward as a TV series. Waiting for the pilot script now!